Regex to check if string contains Alphanumeric Characters and Spaces only - javascript

Question

This is what I have so far:

function checkTitle(){
    reg = /^[\w ]+$/;
    a = reg.test($("#title").val());    
    console.log(a);
}

So far in my tests it catches all special characters except _. How do I catch all special characters including _ in the current function?

I need the string to only have Alphanumeric Characters and Spaces. Appreciate the help cause I am having a hard time understanding regex patterns.

Thanks!

Answer 1

Your problem is that \w matches all alphanumeric values and underscore.

Rather than parsing the entire string, I'd just look for any unwanted characters. For example

var reg = /[^A-Za-z0-9 ]/;

If the result of reg.test is true, then the string fails validation.

Answer 2

Since you are stating you are new to RegExp, I might as well include some tips with the answer. I suggest the following regexp:

/^[a-z\d ]+$/i

Here:

1. There is no need for the upper case A-Z because of the i flag in the end, which matches in a case-insensitive manner
2. \d special character represents digits